Minié rifle
| Minié rifle | |
|---|---|
| general information | |
| Civil name: | Minié rifle |
| Developer / Manufacturer: | Claude Etienne Minié |
| Development year: | 1849 |
| Furnishing | |
| Barrel length : | 958 mm |
| Technical specifications | |
| Caliber : | 17.2 mm Minié bullet |
| Cadence : | 3 to 5 rounds / min |
| Charging principle: | Muzzle loader |
| Lists on the subject | |
The Minié rifle was a drawn muzzle-loading rifle designed by Claude-Étienne Minié ( captain and instructor at the École Normale in Vincennes in 1849 ) , which was developed to use the Minié projectile . Further rifle developments followed this original type.
description
The rifle had the advantage that the cumbersome handling of forcing the projectiles with the help of the ramrod was taken over by the power of the gunpowder . Minié shifted the operating principle to the projectile, a so-called expansion projectile, which expands when the black powder burns due to its pressure on the bottom part, since this is designed as a so-called hollow bottom with an iron cup (culot) that is pushed apart by the combustion gases and the culot is pressed into the shallow trains.
The caliber was 17.2 mm, the weight of the expansion bullet about 40 g. The minié rifle and related structures (such as the thorn gun ) had in most armies after 1866 the breechloaders soft.
Thanks to Minié's principle, the states of Europe could very quickly equip their entire armies with rifled rifles, since the visor alone required a license, but not the shape of the bullet or the method of inserting shallow features into the old, large-caliber muskets. Nevertheless, the Minié rifle was problematic in its original form, as the projectiles of the large calibers (up to .69) often tore in flight or even while the rifle was running. Only a reduction in the caliber brought improvement.
middle: after the shot,
right: archaeological find from the American Civil War
It was first used on a large scale by the British Army with the introduction of the Enfield Rifled Musket in 1852 and its success in the Crimean War .
The principle of the Minié rifle found its completion in Germany through the Württemberg club rifle of 1857 in caliber .547 (13.9 mm) and the attempts of the Bavarian officer Philipp Freiherr von Podewils , who in 1859 found a form that made it possible to do without the iron one Culot get along.
Minié bullets
Minié bullet, loaded before launch
literature
- Caesar Riistow: The Minié rifle and its significance for war use , Mittler, Berlin 1855. ( online at archive.org )
